Poland
Poland (Polish: Polska ˈpɔlska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska ''ˈpɔlska), is a country located in Central Europe. Poland borders Germany, Prussia, Galitsia, Slovakia and Czechia. It is divided into 12 administrative subdivisions, covering an area of 225,309 square kilometres (140,000 sq mi), and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With a population of 32,221,017 people, Poland is the one of the most populous countries in Europe. Poland's capital is Kraków and largest metropolis is Warsaw. Other major cities include Łódź Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin. The establishment of the Polish state can be traced back to 966 A.D., when Mieszko I, ruler of the territory coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest (about 1 million square kilometers) and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system which adopted Europe's first written national constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791. Following the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland regained its independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles. In September 1939, the Versailles War started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. This directly led to the formation of the Pro-German Huzarzy Polish State with the signing of the 1939 Danzig Pact. After the Versailles War, the Polish Democratic Republic was established as a satellite state under Soviet influence. In the aftermath of the Krakow Crisis, most notably through the emergence of the Polski Sojusz, Poland reestablished itself as a democratic republic. Etymology The origin of the name "Poland" derives from the West Slavic tribe of Polans (Polanie) that inhabited the Warta river's basin of the historic Greater Poland region starting in the 6th century. The origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the early Slavic word "pole" (field). In some languages, such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish, the exonym for Poland is Lechites ("Lechici"), which derives from the name of a semi-legendary ruler of Polans, Lech I. History '''Piast Dynasty' Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I, accepted Christianity with the Baptism of Poland in 966, as the new official religion of his subjects. The bulk of the population converted in the course of the next few centuries. In 1000, Boleslaw the Brave, continuing the policy of his father Mieszko, held a Congress of Gniezno and created the metropolis of Gniezno and the dioceses of Kraków, Kołobrzeg, and Wrocław. However, the pagan unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 by Casimir I the Restorer. In the middle of the 13th century, the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty (Henry I the Beardedand Henry II the Pious, ruled 1238–41) nearly succeeded in uniting the Polish lands, but the Mongols invaded the country from the east and defeated the combined Polish forces at the Battle of Legnica where Duke Henry II the Pious died. In 1320, after a number of earlier unsuccessful attempts by regional rulers at uniting the Polish dukedoms, Władysław I consolidated his power, took the throne and became the first king of a reunified Poland. His son, Casimir III (reigned 1333–70), has a reputation as one of the greatest Polish kings, and gained wide recognition for improving the country's infrastructure. Casimir III realized that the nation needed a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the country's laws and administer the courts and offices. His efforts to create an institution of higher learning in Poland were finally rewarded when Pope Urban V granted him permission to open the University of Kraków. The Golden Liberty of the nobles began to develop under Casimir's rule, when in return for their military support, the king made a series of concessions to the nobility, and establishing their legal status as superior to that of the townsmen. When Casimir the Great died in 1370, leaving no legitimate male heir, the Piast dynasty came to an end. Jagiellon Dynasty The Jagiellon dynasty spanned the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era of Polish history. Beginning with the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), the Jagiellon dynasty (1386–1572) formed the Polish–Lithuanian union. The partnership brought vast Lithuania-controlled Rus' areas into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for the Poles and Lithuanians, who coexisted and cooperated in one of the largest political entities in Europe for the next four centuries. In the Baltic Sea region the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with the Teutonic Knights continued and culminated in the Battle of Grunwald (1410), where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against the Teutonic Knights, allowing for territorial expansion of both nations into the far north region of Livonia. In 1466, after the Thirteen Years' War, King Casimir IV Jagiellon gave royal consent to the Peace of Thorn, which created the future Duchy of Prussia, a Polish vassal. The Jagiellon dynasty at one point also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards) and Hungary. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars (by whom they were attacked on 75 separate occasions between 1474 and 1569), and in the east helped Lithuania fight the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Some historians estimate that Crimean Tatar slave-raiding cost Poland-Lithuania one million of its population between the years of 1494 and 1694.46 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth The 1569 Union of Lublin established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a more closely unified federal state with an elective monarchy, but which was governed largely by the nobility, through a system of local assemblies with a central parliament. The Warsaw Confederation (1573) confirmed the religious freedom of all residents of Poland, which was extremely important for the stability of the multiethnic Polish society of the time. Serfdom was banned in 1588. The establishment of the Commonwealth coincided with a period of stability and prosperity in Poland, with the union thereafter becoming a European power and a major cultural entity, occupying approximately one million square kilometers of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as an agent for the dissemination of Western culture through Polonization into areas of modern-day Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Western Russia. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Poland suffered from a number of dynastic crises during the reigns of the Vasa kings Sigismund III and Władysław IV and found itself engaged in major conflicts with Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, as well as a series of minor Cossack uprisings. In 1610 Polish army under command Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski seized Moscow after winning the Battle of Klushino. In 1611 the Tsar of Russia paid homage to the King of Poland. From the middle of the 17th century, the nobles' democracy, suffering from internal disorder, gradually declined, thereby leaving the once powerful Commonwealth vulnerable to foreign intervention. Starting in 1648, the Cossack Khmelnytsky Uprising engulfed the south and east, eventually leaving Ukraine divided, with the eastern part, lost by the Commonwealth, becoming a dependency of the Tsardom of Russia. This was followed by the 'Deluge', a Swedish invasion of Poland, which marched through the Polish heartlands and ruined the country's population, culture and infrastructure—around four million of Poland's eleven million inhabitants died in famines and epidemics throughout the 17th century. However, under John III Sobieski the Commonwealth's military prowess was re-established, and in 1683 Polish forces played a major role in the Battle of Vienna against the Ottoman Army, commanded by Kara Mustafa, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Sobieski's reign marked the end of the nation's golden era. Finding itself subjected to almost constant warfare and suffering enormous population losses as well as massive damage to its economy, the Commonwealth fell into decline. The government became ineffective as a result of large-scale internal conflicts (e.g. Lubomirski Rebellion against John II Casimir and rebellious confederations) and corrupted legislative processes. Partitions of Poland The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanisław II August (a Polish aristocrat connected to the Czartoryski family faction of magnates) to the monarchy. However, as a one-time personal admirer of Empress Catherine II of Russia, the new king spent much of his reign torn between his desire to implement reforms necessary to save his nation, and his perceived necessity to remain in a political relationship with his Russian sponsor. This led to the formation of the 1768 Bar Confederation, a szlachta rebellion directed against the Polish king and his Russian sponsors, which aimed to preserve Poland's independence and the szlachta's traditional privileges. Attempts at reform provoked the union's neighbours, and in 1772 the First Partition of the Commonwealth by Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which the "Partition Sejm", under considerable duress, eventually "ratified" fait accompli. The Great Sejm convened by Stanisław II August in 1788 successfully adopted the 3 May Constitution, the first set of modern supreme national laws in Europe. However, this document, accused by detractors of harbouring revolutionary sympathies, generated strong opposition from the Commonwealth's nobles and conservatives as well as from Catherine II, who, determined to prevent the rebirth of a strong Commonwealth set about planning the final dismemberment of the Polish-Lithuanian state. Russia was aided in achieving its goal when the Targowica Confederation, an organisation of Polish nobles, appealed to the Empress for help. In May 1792, Russian forces crossed the Commonwealth's frontier, thus beginning the Polish-Russian War. The defensive war fought by the Poles ended prematurely when the King, convinced of the futility of resistance, capitulated and joined the Targowica Confederation. The Confederation then took over the government. Russia and Prussia, fearing the mere existence of a Polish state, arranged for, and in 1793 executed, the Second Partition of the Commonwealth, which left the country deprived of so much territory that it was practically incapable of independent existence. Eventually, in 1795, following the failed Kościuszko Uprising, the Commonwealth was partitioned one last time by all three of its more powerful neighbors, and with this, effectively ceased to exist. Interwar Period During the Great War of 1914, all the Allies agreed on the reconstitution of Poland that United States President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed in Point 13 of his Fourteen Points. A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and 450,000 died. Shortly after the armistice with Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic (II Rzeczpospolita Polska). It reaffirmed its independence after a series of military conflicts, the most notable being the Polish–Soviet War (1919–21) when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on the Red Army at the Battle of Warsaw, an event which is considered to have halted the advance of Communism into Europe and forced Vladimir Lenin to rethink his objective of achieving global socialism. The event is often referred to as the "Miracle at the Vistula". During this period, Poland successfully managed to fuse the territories of the three former partitioning powers into a cohesive nation state. Railways were restructured to direct traffic towards Warsaw instead of the former imperial capitals, a new network of national roads was gradually built up and a major seaport was opened on the Baltic Coast, so as to allow Polish exports and imports to bypass the politically charged Free City of Danzig. The inter-war period heralded in a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up until the First World War, the country now found itself trying to establish a new political tradition. For this reason, many exiled Polish activists, such as Ignacy Paderewski (who would later become prime minister) returned home to help; a significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 when Gabriel Narutowicz, inaugural holder of the presidency, was assassinated at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw by painter and right-wing nationalist Eligiusz Niewiadomski. In 1926, a May coup, led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign Marshal Józef Piłsudski, turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisan Sanacja (Healing) movement in an effort to prevent radical political organizations on both the left and the right from destabilizing the country.60 The movement functioned integrally until Piłsudski's death in 1935. Following Marshall Piłsudski's death, Sanation split into several competing factions. By the late 1930s, Poland's government had become increasingly rigid; with a number of "undesirable" political parties, which threatened the stability of the country such as the Polish Communists, banned. As a subsequent result of the Munich Agreement in 1938, Czechoslovakia ceded to Poland the small 350 square mile Zaolzie region. The area was a point of contention between the Polish and Czechoslovak governments in the past and the two countries fought a brief seven-day war over it in 1919. Versailles War Adolf Hitler had initially wanted to divide Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union but following the death of Chairman Josef Stalin and the expulsion of German Diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler commenced his invasion of Poland of September 1st, 1939 hoping to take advantage of the chaos in the Soviet Union even without the Non-Aggression Treaty. However with the Soviet political re-organization and election of Mikhail Kalinin, Hitler feared having to fight not only the Soviets and Polish to the east but the French to the west. Hitler called for a peace treaty with the Poles (despite having just invaded their country) however this peace treaty was more so a document of surrender as Hitler wanted to convert Poland into a client state that it could use to hold off the invading Soviets. Hitler formed an Anti-Communist Pact known as the Danzig Pact with Polish politician Władysław Studnicki (who would be later termed the Scavenius of Poland) alongside Polish fascist Bolesław Piasecki (known as the Himmler of Poland) and General Edward Rydz-Śmigły. They cited their common goals of anti-communism, nationalism and "removal" of Jews. Bolesław Piasecki forms the far-right Hussaria Party (Polish: Huzarzy Partia) named after the Polish Hussars which acts as the governing body of Huzarzy Poland during its short history. In exchange for Germany withdrawing all claims to Poland (except for the territories Germany lost to Poland following the Treaty of Versailles which included the Polish Pomeranian Voivodeship, Silesian Voivodeship and Poznań Voivodeship) Germany would supply Poland with arms to fight the Soviet Union and push back the “Judeo-Bolshevik forces”. Hitler also ceded the Cieszyn Silesia or Zaolzie region of the Czech Republic to Poland as a concession. Hitler reluctantly declares that since Poles are the ancestors of the Wendish People/Wends like other West Slavic people they are considered partially Germanic due to contact between Western Slavs and Germanic tribes over the centuries. The Western Slavs are described as native peoples who were corrupted by Eastern Slavic influence over the centuries. However, the Eastern Slavs remain non-German as such were treated as a lesser race than Western Slavs and Germans. While not equal to Aryan Germans, Western Slavs were above Jews, Roma and Eastern Slavs (Ukrainians, Russians, Belorussians). However, following the secret October 1st, 1939 Teutonic Speech given by Hitler, these promises proved to be false as the Nazis planned to use the Poles to wear down the Soviets before the Germans crushed both the Poles and the Soviets. The Huzarzy Party sought to expel Jews and Eastern Slavs from Polish territory while also conquering all land that was once Polish (the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Polish Kingdom under the Piast Dynasty) as a purely ethnically Polish state. As Poland had been cut off once again from the sea by the German annexation of the Polish Corridor, the Poles planned to invade, annex and Polonize Lithuania and the Baltic States as well as Ukraine and Belarus. As tensions were already great between Poland and the USSR before the war due to the Polish-Soviet War of the 1920’s, many Poles would side with Studnicki seeing him and the Germans as a better chance for Polish survival than the Soviets. Studnicki had drawn support from antisemitic Poles and supporters of Roman Dmowski, a notable Polish nationalist that had died only months earlier. While Hitler had capitulated to some Poles out of necessity this was a blow to his pride and he would then order Alfred Rosenberg to begin Operation Schäfer, the systematic deportation (and seizure of their property) of all Jews from Axis territory to the Lublin Reservation. As the Nazis did not have the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact they wanted with the Soviets to get the resources they needed, they decided that using the Jews as slave labor rather than just massacring them was more helpful. As such Jews from all over would be deported at gun-point to smaller ghettos which from there they would be transferred to Lublin (which had been evacuated of all ethnic Poles) where they would be imprisoned and forced to work in factories to feed the growing Axis war machine. The Lublin Reservation was a collection of Ghetto-Prison Camps in the marshy Polesian region of the Lublin Voivodeship. While Studnicki protested to this being on Polish territory he accepted seeing as how it was on the front-lines and would be needed to produce arms for the war effect. German Nazi Odilo Globocnik and Polish Huzarzy Bolesław Piasecki were put in charge of managing the Lublin Reservation. This mass deportation of Jews would become known as the Mizrekh Marts as the Jews were forced in a death march to the Lublin Reservation. The Democratic Alliance and Soviet Union viewed the Huzarzy government as illegitimate but the Democratic Alliance supported Ignacy Mościcki and the Polish government in exile whereas the Soviets supported a communist Polish government under Bolesław Bierut. Following the Soviet Invasion of Poland, the Huzarzy Polish army is pushed back to the Bug River where a defensive line is formed. On December 31st, 1939, the Polish Huzarzy Army led by General Lucjan Żeligowski (who had led Żeligowski's Mutiny only 19 years earlier) begins the invasion of Lithuania hoping to reunite Poland and Lithuania. They manage to capture the capital of Lithuania on January 17th and recapture Vilnius (which had been captured by the Soviets) on January 27th. On April 12th, Soviet forces manage to recapture Lithuania. On August 17th, 1940 the Soviet Union begins the invasion of Huzarzy Poland where they meet up with the Yidishe Bafreyung Farband and use the city of Lublin as a mid-point. Two sections break off, one goes north to Warsaw while the other goes south to Krakow. They quickly capture Krakow but later during the Battle of Warsaw much of the city of Warsaw would be destroyed and nearly burnt to the ground by the sheer violence and most of its population driven out as battles took place on city streets. Poland would be fully captured by the Soviets on September 10th. Many Poles living in eastern Poland flee to the West to escape being under Soviet control. Polish Nationalists who served in the Huzarzy Army would go into hiding and join the Polish nationalist organization known as the Mieszko Front formed later. Polish Huzarzy soldiers are executed en masse by Soviet forces. Around 6,000 Huzarzy soldiers and officers are executed in the neighboring town of Bolimów. This would become known as the Bolimów Massacre despite its victims being primarily fascist sympathizers. On October 22nd, 1940, the occupied Polish territory is converted into the Polish Democratic Republic as a Soviet Satellite State Communist Period The Soviet Union installs the pro-Soviet Polish Communist Party with Bolesław Bierut as President, Aleksander Zawadzki as Chairman, and Karol Świerczewski as Prime Minister of the Polish Democratic Republic. During the 1940 Berlin Conference, the combined Allied forces agreed to cede all German Provinces east of the Oder-Neisse Line will be ceded to the Polish Democratic Republic and all ethnic Germans living there will be deported to the Prussian Democratic Republic. However, since Germany had surrendered to the Democratic Alliance and held a greater sway during the discussion it was outraged by the loss of historically German land as such it demanded concessions in response to this loss of land, while the committee was unwilling to grant these concessions they greatly reduced the reparations Germany had to pay allowing Germany to recover much quicker. The Free City of Danzig was partitioned between the Polish Democratic Republic and the Prussian Democratic Republic. Land west of the Vistula will be ceded to the Polish Democratic Republic and land east of the Vistula will be ceded to the Prussian Democratic Republic. On November 11th, 1940, shortly following the Berlin Conference, Franz Schwede, hears of the news of the Berlin Conference and the plan to cede German provinces east of the Oder-Neisse Line to Poland he is outraged and with aid from Heinrich Himmler’s guerrilla Werwolf forces stages a coup in the Soviet occupied Pomerania and declares the Free State of Silesia-Pomerania (Freistaat Schlesien-Pommern) as an independent nation consisting of the German provinces east of the Oder-Neisse Line. He declares himself the Chancellor and the rightful inheritor of the German Reich. However, Schwede is quickly captured and killed by Soviet forces and the Pomeranian Rebellion is put down and the Free State of Silesia-Pomerania is dismantled. The Soviets use this as an excuse to accelerate their deportations of Germans from east of the Oder-Neisse Line to the Prussian Democratic Republic which in turn causes more Germans to flee to the German Republic. Many Poles take out their anger against the Soviets on the German population leading to many massacres against Germans in Poland. Germans fleeing the collapse of the Free State of Silesia-Pomerania found the Weischelland Government-In-Exile in Germany. They claim the ex-Eastern provinces of Germany (Pomerania, Silesia, East Brandenburg and Posen-West Prussia) as an occupied nation of the German Republic of Weischelland with its capital of Breslau (Wrocław). Some more radical Germans also claimed the old provinces of Posen and West Prussia. The Weischelland Government-In-Exile would be one of the founding members of the League of Unrecognized Nations and Peoples and would become recognized by Germany following the independence of Poland. Despite new territory being added to the Polish Democratic Republic after the war extremely high tensions remains between the Soviets and the Polish due to the Soviet destruction of Warsaw and harsh reparations against the Polish people (the Soviet Union did not differentiate between the Polish communists of East Poland and the Polish fascists of West Poland). The Polish Kresy (which it had gained during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919) was ceded back to the Soviet Union and its territory split between the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. This caused many issues as many Poles lived in these territories causing riots and skirmishes to pop up between Poland and Ukraine despite them both being Soviet Satellite States (or constituent states). Kalinin suggests the creation of an ethnically neutral buffer zone between the Polish Democratic Republic and the USSR. Kalinin tasks Sergei Kruglov with developing this idea. Many Ukrainians and Belarussians felt uncomfortable having the Poles who just massacred them months early only a couple miles across the border and as such many were willing to cede land as a buffer zone. Sergei Kruglov decides on a buffer zone between latitudes 24° E (known as the Lviv Line) and 22° E (known as the Rzeszow Line) inside the borders of the Second Polish Republic. The problem being the region was very ethnically mixed with Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews as such it could not fulfil its purpose as an ethnically neutral buffer state. Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov suggests this region as a Yiddish Soviet Satellite State, aiming to resettle the millions of homeless Jews after the war while providing a buffer between the Soviet Union and Poland, he argued that by collectively settling the Jews in one place it could help them develop a national identity and as such adapt to socialism better. He reasoned that while Jews are a minority they are more likely to be insular but while in a community of Jews they are more receptive to other ideas. He also sought to secularize and modernize the Jewish community of the Soviet Union and help them become an secular nationality no different than a Ukrainian or Pole. This region would become known as the as the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik in Yiddish or Galician Worker’s Republic in English as an allusion to the short-lived Galician Soviet Socialist Republic, despite the territory only encompassing a fraction of the traditional region of Galicia. It was more commonly referred to as Galitsia. This agreement would become known as the Lviv-Rzeszow Agreement or Rayshe-Lemberg Agreement. Poles in the Polish Democratic Republic are outraged by the Lviv-Rzeszow Agreement being signed by Mikhail Kalinin and riot across the country, burning down multiple synagogues. Many Poles felt legitimized in their fear of a “Judeopolonia” as such many ethnic Poles flee the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik for the Polish Democratic Republic. However, many Poles remained living in rural regions all throughout Galitsia especially in the southern Podkarpackie Region. Many Polish communists felt betrayed by the USSR. This would become known as the Pęknięcie or “Fracture” within the Polish community as people felt as though they were being ripped away from their homes when in fact much of their fear was antisemitic propaganda from Polish nationalists. Poles who fled the region or who remained begin identifying as Kresowiaks (or Kresowians). Soviet officials begin the massive population transfer of ethnic Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Belarussians between the Polish Democratic Republic and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic however as per Litvinov’s agreement, no official expulsions occurred in Galitsia but many fled fearing living under a “Jewish State”. Litvinov forms the “Komunist Partey fun Galitsye” (Communist Party of Galitsia) as the governing body of Galitsia as well as the Galitsyanish Council of Ethnicities with elected representatives of the ethnicities of Galitsia including Jews, Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. For any major law to be passed in Galitsia it would need the support from majority of the council. Frayshtats (Free States) are created for the different ethnicities with the Masovia Frayshtat for Poles, Suvalki Frayshtat for Lithuanians, Polesia Frayshtat for Belarusians and the Volhynia Frayshtat for Ukrainians. On May 25th, 1941, Jędrzej Giertych formed the underground Mieszko Front on the 950th anniversary of the death of King Mieszko I of Poland. Giertych had been an admirer of Polish fascist, Bolesław Piasecki and the Huzarzy Army but had been injured during the war forcing him to go into hiding until the end of the war. He is joined by numerous veterans of the Huzarzy Army who had gone into hiding after the end of the Versailles War. They view Jews as traitors to Poland who stole Polish land and must be exterminated and viewed Communism as a Jewish creation. The Mieszko Group acted as a counter to the communist Polish Secret Police and committed acts of violence against Jews and Soviet officials. They sought the overthrow of communism and establishment of a fascist Polish state with the borders of both the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the land of the Piast Dynasty. The Mieszko Group received support from the German Werwolf and Polish refugees who fled Soviet control. They used the symbol of the Rodło like the Huzarzy Army as well as simply using a red flag with the white Polish eagle on it. On June 28th, 1956, massive protests erupt in the Polish Democratic Republic in the city of Poznań supported by the Mieszko insurgents and Polish nationalists. These protests are violently crushed only days later. In response, Mieczysław Moczar created the Polski Sojusz (Polish Alliance) between right-wing Mieszko Insurgents, left-wing Polish Socialists who were anti-Soviet and the centrist Polish Nationalists. They united against the Soviet government. Krakow Crisis The Krakow Crisis, also known as the Polish Crisis of 1959', '''was a week long (January 1–7 1959) confrontation between the Democratic Alliance and the Soviet Union concerning Soviet military action in the Polish Democratic Republic that quickly escalated to the Soviets stationing ballistic missiles along the Polish-Soviet Border and the Democratic Alliance stationing ballistic missiles along the Polish-German border in response. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. In response to the July 26th, 1953 Cuban Communist Revolution, Georgy Malenkov begins to reinstate Stalinist policies within the Soviet Union. Following a 1956 crackdown on Polish worker's rights by Malenkov policy massive pro-democracy protests erupt in the Polish Democratic Republic on June 28th, 1956. These riots mainly in the city of Poznań were supported by the far-right Mieszko insurgents and Polish nationalists. These protests were violently crushed by Soviet military action only days later. In response to this violence, Mieczysław Moczar creates the Polski Sojusz (Polish Alliance) between right-wing Mieszko Insurgents, left-wing Polish Socialists (who were anti-Soviet) and the centrist Polish Nationalists. They united against the Soviet government. The Hungarian nationalists inspired by Poland begin rioting against the Pro-Soviet government of the Hungarian People's Republic on October 23rd, 1956. However, the Hungarian revolt was utterly crushed by Soviet forces only days later. Malenkov was unwilling to budge on the issue and wanted to set an example and as such had Soviet soldiers open fire on crowds of protesters. This becomes known as the Budapest Massacre. The League of Nations denounces this and begins funding anti-communist movements in Poland, Hungary and Romania. On December 31st, 1958, Polish forces led by Mieczysław Moczar and the Polski Sojusz in the city of Krakow revolt against the Polish communist government. They received funding from the British, French and Germans. They hoped with the Soviets focused on Kurdistan during the Kurdish War of Independence they would be less focused on the Polish Democratic Republic. Malenkov responds to the Krakow revolts by sending tanks to the border of Poland. The Democratic Alliance responds by sending their own tanks to reinforce western Poland. This begins the so-called Krakow Crisis. In response to this, the Soviets station missiles in the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik aimed at Poland. The Democratic Alliance also stations missiles in eastern Germany and western Poland. On January 6th, 1959: A Polish nationalist is shot by a Polish communist, this leads to a heated incident where both the Soviets and the Democratic Alliance were close to firing their missiles. On January 7th, 1959, British Prime Minister Maurice Harold Macmillan meets with Soviet General Secretary Georgy Malenkov and Polish Resistance Leader Mieczysław Moczar. While Moczar had originally been an ardent socialist he had grown disillusioned with socialism following the Soviet crimes against the Polish people and the creation of the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik. German Chancellor Henning von Tresckow stood as the mediator in the city of Krakow. However, discussions concerning Poland had grown heated. The Soviets wanted to partition Poland into Eastern Poland and Western Poland with Eastern Poland remaining communist and Western Poland becoming democratic. The Poles in turn wanted a fully democratic Poland with the inclusion of the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik. Poland argued for the independence of Kresowia, containing the territories of the originally Polish Kresy. They cited the Kresy as a land of cultural, linguistic and religious equality that had been destroyed by the Soviets and Jewish colonization of Galitsia. They cited the Kresowiaks/Kresowians as an independent culture that represented a fusion of Eastern Slavs and Western Slavs and deserved their own independent nation. Other Poles cited this as false and called for the total annexation of Galitsia and the Kresy region. On January 11th, 1959, the Polish Democratic Republic is dissolved and is replaced by the democratically aligned Republic of Poland. Mieczysław Moczar is elected as Prime Minister and Stanisław Mikołajczyk is elected as President. Rather than continue to use the red and white stripe flag which they viewed as representing the Jagiellon Concept of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, they adopt the flag of the Piast Dynasty, a red flag with a white Polish eagle on it. This was meant to represent their political embrace of the Piast Concept. To represent the new Piast centered Polish state, Kraków is selected as the new Polish capital city. While Warsaw remained the largest city, it had been razed during the Versailles War as well as represented Jagiellonism. Kraków would become a Polish city for the Polish people. Following the Krakow Crisis, riots sprung up in the Masovian Frayshtat among Poles who wanted the region to be annexed by the newly democratic Poland. They are violently put down by the Galitsian government. This leads to many Poles fleeing the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik. In response the Polish government creates the Kresowian Independence Organization which supports a unique Kresowian identity and highlights the history of the Kresy and violence towards the Kresowians. They begin funding propaganda to support the liberation of the Kresowian People who lived under the thumb of Jewish and Soviet tyranny. The stationing of Soviet missiles in the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik increased the already extremely high tensions between Poland and Galitsia which following the Shtreimel Rebellion and Galitsia's independence, led to the Polish-Galitsian War. '''Polish-Galitsian War' Present-Day Category:Countries